cronis, a technology firm synonymous with backup and recovery software has announced a new storage solution called Acronis Storage, wherein data will be secured and authenticated with Ethereum’s public blockchain.

Acronis, a software company founded in Russia while now headquartered in Singapore was initially revealedto be working on implementing blockchain technology into its products in early 2016. The goal was to achieve data immutability.

In May 2016, Acronis’ executive John Zanni revealed that its blockchain-secured data storage solution was targeting both business and individuals. Any instance of a document being accessed on its blockchain-based product that has been timestamped will be stamped again, with an accompanying log of the modification. Zanni also added that the verification would be decentralized in a distributed manner.

When harnessed to its full potential, blockchain will bring levels of data authenticity, privacy and control of data protection that we have not seen before.

Blockchain-based Data Authentication

Now, Acronis has laid claim to developing the “world’s first software-defined storage product with blockchain-based data authentication”. The data authenticity touted by Acronis is enabled by its software offering where a distributed ledger will enable immutable logging and watermarking.

One of its offerings, called Acronis Notary, will its blockchain generate a time-stamped hash of the data before storing it on the Ethereum blockchain.

Fundamentally, whenever a participant uploads a file into the storage repository, the ‘fingerprint’ of the file is recorded in a file hash written into the Ethereum blockchain, verified by rules of consensus.

When the file is uploaded, it will be “notarized” while a fingerprint of the file and a permanent record is stored in the blockchain within seconds.

A sample notarization certificate.

Since each participant in a blockchain will have the same copy of the record, the data is validated by all copies within the ledger and is readily available at any time. A demo of the Acronis blockchain can be triedhere.

In a statement, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin added:

Acronis is the first data protection company to adopt the blockchain as a data notarization platform.

The software-maker sees its blockchain-based product to prove useful in any industry that needs its data safeguarded. Obvious examples include property records, intellectual property-related documents, chain-of-evidence court documents and even police video and security camera footage.